Effects of clotrimazole and amiodarone on early development of amphibian (Xenopus tropicalis)

Pharmaceuticals have been recognized as a continuing threat to environmental stability. Few experimental data are available for the effects of clotrimazole and amiodarone on the ecological environment. An acute test with embryos and a chronic test with larvae of amphibian (Xenopus tropicalis) were thus conducted to determine the influence of clotrimazole or amiodarone on early amphibian development. In acute test, % survival and the body length were numerically decreased by both pharmaceuticals treatments compared to control. In chronic test, the cumulative mortality was 22.2% with 0.1 μg L ^-1 clotrimazole treatment and 21.7% with 1 μg L ^-1 amiodarone. The whole body length and the biomass were significantly decreased and developmental stages significantly delayed by both pharmaceuticals. The results of our study suggest that clotrimazole exerted adverse effects on larvae of X. tropicalis at environmentally relevant concentrations.